U.S. provides $1million funds to finance an Agriculture development program in Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan 12:56 PM - 2021-09-28Photo Credit: Shad Ibrahim
After the opening of the new flour factory in the Bazian district of Slemani Governorate earlier this month, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and their partner, the company Top Mountains launched on the 26th of September, an Agribusiness Incubator and Accelerator program to develop further the agricultural sector in the Kurdistan Region.
The USAID supports micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as start-ups working in agriculture and agribusiness sectors in the Kurdistan Region. Top Mountain is a development consultancy company based in Erbil and specialized in providing technical expertise that focuses on stabilization, economic development, and business operations. Together they fund a $1 million program that aims to increase the competitiveness of Iraqi agriculture products, promote local consumption, and facilitate new public-private sector partnerships.
The Kurdistan Region has a semi-arid and subtropical climate with hot and dry summers and humid and cold winters, soils are calcareous and filled with limestone and different dolomite formations and are considered rich and fertile. But an excessive climate change during the past years such as high temperatures and low rainfall resulted in a poor agricultural production outcome. In order to adapt to those changes, the Kurdistan Region has to switch to other crop varieties, invest in new technologies, and transform its management practices. Otherwise, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region will remain food importers and are therefore at great risk for food shortage.
Another big issue is the lack of drinking water due to heavy droughts and the fact that Iran and Turkey were building dams on several rivers and stop the water flow into Iraq. These cut-offs were adding on top of the climate change and resulted in the delay of agricultural production.
During times of war and conflicts, the agriculture sector gets heavily affected, too, because it consumes a lot of resources. Throughout the era of Saddam Hussein and then the times of ISIS, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region land was under constant attack and mostly destroyed.
Until today, the conflicts continue within border areas where Turkey is regularly bombing hospitals, shops and houses, burning farmland and killing civilians under the pretext of targeting PKK.
Even though there are many obstacles in the way, with the support of allies, the Kurdistan Region is continuing to improve the agricultural sector.
Reported by Julia Zimmermman
PUKmedia
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